JP2002116946A - Multimedia data storage method, device and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multimedia data storage method for automatically moving data inside a storage medium to a multimedia data storage device when the storage medium having multimedia data recorded thereon is inserted into the data storage device, automatically preparing a file name and automatically taking out the storage medium thereafter. SOLUTION: This multimedia data storage method for storing the multimedia data in the data storage device is composed of a multimedia data confirmation step for confirming that the multimedia data are present in a removable storage medium connected to the data storage device, a multimedia data read step for reading the multimedia data inside the storage medium, a multimedia data duplication step for duplicating the read multimedia data to the data storage device and a multimedia data deletion step for deleting the multimedia data duplicated in the data storage device from the storage medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for storing multimedia data and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, still image data and moving image data input (stored) by an image input device such as a digital camera and a digital video are converted into a memory card storing the still image data and the moving image data. (Personal C
omputer), or an image input device is directly connected to a personal computer, and still image data, moving image data, and audio data are taken into a data storage device (storage device) in the personal computer.

[0003]

However, when binary data such as still images, moving images, and sounds are stored in a personal computer, there are four problems as follows. (1) After inserting a memory card on which image data or moving image data is recorded into a card slot of a personal computer, a user must manually operate the personal computer to copy binary data. (2) When certain binary data is recorded on a memory card, it is not known whether this binary data is stored in a data storage device (storage device) of a personal computer used by the user. (3) In connection with the above-mentioned problem (2), since the file name of binary data such as image data is a name automatically given by an image input device such as a digital camera or a digital video, the user cannot use the file name of his / her own. Even if a file with the same name is stored in the data storage device of a personal computer, it is not necessarily the same image data as the image data recorded on the memory card. You have to check the image data you have. (4) In the case of Windows NT or the like, even if the image data in the memory card is erased, it is not known when the image data was actually deleted because delayed writing occurs.
I don't know when to remove the memory card from my computer.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a storage medium on which multimedia data is recorded is inserted into a multimedia data storage device, data in the storage medium is automatically stored in the storage medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a multimedia data storage method and apparatus and a recording medium which automatically move to an apparatus, create a file name, and then automatically take out a storage medium.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, a multimedia data storage method according to a first aspect of the present invention is a multimedia data storage method for storing multimedia data in a data storage device. A multimedia data confirmation step of confirming that multimedia data is present in a removable storage medium connected to the data storage device; a multimedia data reading step of reading multimedia data in the storage medium; Multimedia data copying step of copying the copied multimedia data to a data storage device, and multimedia data deleting step of deleting the multimedia data copied to the data storage device from the storage medium. .

A multimedia data storage method according to a second aspect of the present invention is the multimedia data storage method according to the first aspect, wherein in the multimedia data confirmation step, when it is confirmed that multimedia data exists, the multimedia data is stored in the storage medium. A metadata confirmation step of confirming the existence of metadata, a metadata reading step of reading the metadata whose existence has been confirmed, and a multimedia data and metadata reading step of the multimedia data reading step. And a metadata joining step of joining the read metadata.

A multimedia data storage method according to a third aspect of the present invention is the multimedia data storage method according to the first or second aspect, wherein the storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted in the multimedia data deleting step is stored in a data storage device. Automatically extracted from the

A multimedia data storage method according to a fourth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the first to third aspects, wherein the removable storage medium includes:
It is a semiconductor memory.

A multimedia data storage method according to a fifth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the first to third aspects, wherein the removable storage medium is:
It is a magnetic memory.

A multimedia data storage method according to claim 6 is the multimedia data storage method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the removable storage medium is:
It is a disc.

A multimedia data storage method according to a seventh aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the first to third aspects, wherein the removable storage medium is:
It is a hard disk.

The multimedia data storing method according to claim 8 is the multimedia data storing method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the multimedia data is still image data.

A multimedia data storage method according to a ninth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the first to third aspects, wherein the multimedia data is audio / music data.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multimedia data storing method according to any one of the first to third aspects.
It is moving image data.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the multimedia data storing method according to the first to third aspects, wherein the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data shot by a digital camera. The multimedia data checking step is characterized in that it is determined whether or not a DCF object file defined by a camera file system standard exists in the storage medium.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the multimedia data storing method according to any one of the first to third aspects, in the multimedia data confirming step, all the supported multimedia data files are present. Or searching all directories in the storage medium.

A multimedia data storage method according to a thirteenth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the second or third aspect, wherein the metadata joining step joins the metadata after the multimedia data. I do.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the multimedia data storing method according to the second or third aspect, the metadata joining step manages the multimedia data and the metadata using a multimedia database. It is characterized by doing.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multimedia data storing method according to the second or third aspect, wherein the metadata is described in a data description language.

A multimedia data storage method according to a sixteenth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the fifteenth aspect, wherein the data description language is XML.

A multimedia data storage method according to a seventeenth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the fifteenth aspect, wherein the data description language is SGML.

[0022] A multimedia data storing method according to claim 18 is the multimedia data storing method according to claim 15, wherein the data description language is HTML.

A multimedia data storage method according to a nineteenth aspect is the multimedia data storage method according to the first or third aspect, wherein in the multimedia data copying step, there is multimedia data having the same file name at the copy destination. In some cases, another name is automatically given.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 20 is a multimedia data storage device for storing multimedia data, wherein the multimedia data is stored in a removable storage medium connected to the multimedia data storage device. Multimedia data confirming means for confirming that the multimedia data is read, multimedia data reading means for reading multimedia data in the storage medium, and multimedia data copying means for copying the read multimedia data to a data storage device. And multimedia data deleting means for deleting the multimedia data copied to the data storage device from the storage medium.

A multimedia data storage device according to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention is the multimedia data storage device according to the twentieth aspect, wherein when the multimedia data confirmation means determines that multimedia data exists, the multimedia data storage device stores the multimedia data in the storage medium. Metadata checking means for checking the existence of metadata, metadata reading means for reading the checked metadata, and metadata joining means for joining the read multimedia data and metadata. It is characterized by the following.

A multimedia data storage device according to a twenty-second aspect is the multimedia data storage device according to the twentieth or twenty-first aspect, wherein the storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted by the multimedia data deleting means is stored in the data storage device. Automatically extracted from the

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 23 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the removable storage medium is a semiconductor memory.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 24 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the removable storage medium is a magnetic memory.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 25 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the removable storage medium is a disk.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 26 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the removable storage medium is a hard disk.

A multimedia data storage device according to a twenty-seventh aspect is the multimedia data storage device according to the twentieth to twenty-second aspects, wherein the multimedia data is still image data.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 28 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the multimedia data is audio / music data.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 29 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the multimedia data is moving image data.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 30 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data shot by a digital camera. The multimedia data checking means determines whether or not a DCF object file defined by a camera file system standard exists in the storage medium.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 31 is the multimedia data storage device according to claims 20 to 22, wherein the multimedia data confirmation means includes all supported multimedia data files. Or searching all directories in the storage medium.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 32 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the metadata joining means joins metadata after multimedia data. I do.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 33 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the metadata joining means manages the multimedia data and the metadata using a multimedia database. It is characterized by doing.

A multimedia data storage device according to claim 34 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the metadata is described in a data description language.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 35 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is XML.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 36 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is SGML.

The multimedia data storage device according to claim 37 is the multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is HTML.

A multimedia data storage device according to a thirty-eighth aspect of the present invention is the multimedia data storage device according to the twentieth or twenty-second aspect, wherein in the multimedia data duplication means, the duplication destination has multimedia data having the same file name. In some cases, another name is automatically given.

According to a thirty-ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium comprising: a multimedia data confirmation step for confirming that multimedia data exists on a removable storage medium connected to a data storage device; A step of reading multimedia data to be read; a step of copying multimedia data to copy the read multimedia data to the data storage device; and a step of deleting multimedia data copied to the data storage device from the storage medium. And storing a computer-readable program that executes a multimedia data storage method including a media data deleting step.

The storage medium according to claim 40 is the storage medium according to claim 3.
In the storage medium according to claim 9, when the multimedia data is confirmed in the step of confirming the multimedia data, a metadata confirmation step of confirming existence of the metadata in the storage medium; A metadata reading step of reading the read metadata, and a metadata joining step of joining the multimedia data read in the multimedia data reading step and the metadata read in the metadata reading step. It is characterized by.

A storage medium according to claim 41 is claim 3.
The storage medium according to any one of Items 9 or 40, wherein the multimedia data deleting step includes a storage medium removing step of automatically removing the storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted from the data storage device.

The storage medium according to claim 42 is the storage medium according to claim 3.
In the storage medium according to any one of 9 to 41, when the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data captured by a digital camera, the multimedia data confirmation step includes a DCF object defined in a camera file system standard. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not a file exists in the storage medium.

The storage medium according to claim 43 is the storage medium according to claim 3.
In the storage medium according to any one of Items 9 to 41, the multimedia data confirmation step searches all directories in the storage medium to determine whether all supported multimedia data files are present.

The storage medium according to claim 44 is claim 4.
In the storage medium according to 0 or 41, the metadata joining step joins metadata after multimedia data.

A storage medium according to claim 45 is the storage medium according to claim 4.
In the storage medium according to Item 0 or 41, the metadata joining step is characterized in that multimedia data and metadata are managed using a multimedia database.

A storage medium according to claim 46 is the storage medium according to claim 3.
In the storage medium according to any one of Items 9 and 41, in the multimedia data copying step, if there is multimedia data having the same file name in the copy destination, another name is automatically given.

A storage medium according to claim 47 is claim 3.
9. The storage medium according to item 9, wherein the removable storage medium is a semiconductor memory.

The storage medium according to claim 48 is claim 3.
9. The storage medium according to item 9, wherein the removable storage medium is a magnetic memory.

The storage medium according to claim 49 is claim 3.
9. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the removable storage medium is a disk.

The storage medium according to claim 50 is claim 3.
9. The storage medium according to item 9, wherein the removable storage medium is a hard disk.

[0055]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a multimedia data storage device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a reading unit 100 of the multimedia data storage device reads, for example, image data (binary data) as multimedia data using a scanner, a memory card, or the like.
Input data using a keyboard or a pointing device. The storage unit 102 as a data storage device stores multimedia data, and is usually a hard disk (HDD) in many cases. The display unit 103 displays multimedia data stored in the storage unit 102 and displays image data read by the reading unit 100, and is a CRT, a liquid crystal, a TV, or the like. CP
U104 is involved in all of the above processing, and the ROM 105 stores a control program for the CPU 104 to implement the procedure necessary for all of the above processing.
Numeral 6 temporarily stores the calculation result and provides a work area. Further, the ROM 105 also stores a control program for realizing the processing procedure of the present embodiment described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The multimedia data storage device includes:
Although various components other than the above are provided, they are not the main subject of the present invention, and therefore description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the multimedia data storage device shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, a PC card slot 201 is provided on the front surface of the panel of the multimedia data storage device 200. The PC card slot 201 is provided with image data (Digital camera, digital video, scanner, etc.) by an image input device such as a scanner. The image data recorded on the memory card 202 is read by inserting the memory card 202 into which the binary data has been input, and stored in an internal data storage device (corresponding to the storage unit 102 in FIG. 1) 203.

The memory card 202 is a removable storage medium whose medium can be replaced. Such removable storage media include PC cards, compact flash cards, smart media, and multi media.
Semiconductor memories such as media cards, SD cards, and memory sticks; magnetic memories such as floppy (registered trademark) disks and magnetic cards;
k: magneto-optical disk, CD-RW (CD ReWritable:
Rewritable CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only)
Memoli)), PD (rewritable optical disk), DV
D-RAM (DVD that can be written any number of times (Digital
Video disi)), disk storage media such as MD-Data (Mini-Disk data: magneto-optical disk),
There is a storage medium such as a hard disk.

Next, a method of storing image data in the multimedia data storage device 200 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for storing image data (binary data) in the multimedia data storage device shown in FIG.

First, the memory card 202 on which image data is recorded is inserted into the PC card slot 201 of the multimedia data storage device 200 (step S30).
1). Here, the memory card 202 means a memory card into which image data used in an image input device such as a digital camera is input (stored), and binary data stored in the memory card 202 is Still image data obtained by shooting a still image with a digital camera. In this case, the files stored in the memory card 202 conform to the camera file system standard (Design rule Ca
mera File System: "DCF file format"
It is).

FIG. 4 shows an example of a directory in the DCF file format. As shown in FIG. 4, a fixed DCF image root directory 401 having a directory name “DCIM” is located immediately below a root directory 400 of the memory card 202, and a DCF directory (100ABCDE) 402 for storing DCF objects is located below the fixed DCF image root directory 401. is there. Under this DCF directory 402, a plurality of DCF objects, here, binary data of still images are stored. In this figure, the DCF object is, for example, 4
Image data 403-1 (ABCD0001), 403-2 (ABC
D0002), 403-3 (ABCD0003), and 403-4 (AB
CD0004) is stored.

The memory card 202 having the structure described above
Is inserted into the PC card slot 201 of the multimedia data storage device 200, and it is determined whether image data is stored in the memory card 202 (step S3).
02). The specific determination process in step S302 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart in FIG. FIG. 5 is a first embodiment of the DCF object search flowchart in step S302 of FIG.

First, the fixed DCF image root directory 401 is searched (step S500).
If the DCF image directory 401 does not exist, the process proceeds to step S504, where it is determined that there is no DCF object, and the search ends. On the other hand, if the fixed DCF image root directory 401 exists, the DCF directory 402 under the fixed DCF image root directory 401 is searched (step S501). In this step S501, DC is set in the same manner as in step S500.
If the F directory 402 does not exist, step S50
In step S502, it is determined whether a DCF object exists in step S502. If a DCF object exists, it is determined that a DCF object exists (step S50).
3) If not, the process moves to step S504, and the search ends. Since the determination in step S503 only determines whether a DCF object exists,
It is not necessary to determine the number of F objects.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in step S302, DC
If it is determined that an F object exists, all DCF objects (= image data) are copied (copied) to 203 in the next step S303. Then, the image data copied to the data storage device 203 in step S303 is deleted from the memory card 202.
When all the image data of the memory card 202 is moved to the data storage device 203, the memory card 202
The directory structure remains the same, but the internal DC
The F object no longer exists. Finally, the multimedia data storage device 200 automatically deletes the memory card 202 in which all DCF objects are no longer present from the PC.
The image data is taken out from the card slot 201 and the accumulation processing of the image data is terminated (step S304).

In the case of the DCF file format, a plurality of DCF directories 402 may be stored under the DCF image root directory 401 in some cases. FIG. 6 shows a processing flow in this case. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing step S3 in FIG.
11 is a second embodiment of the DCF object search flowchart in FIG. Note that, in FIG. 6, the same numbers are given to the portions that perform the same processing as in FIG.

In FIG. 6, it is determined in step S501 that the DCF directory does not exist, and the DCF directory is determined in step S502.
If it is determined that the object does not exist, it is determined in step S601 whether or not the next DCF directory exists. If the next DCF directory exists, processing to return to step S501 is added. As a result, it is possible to search all DCF directories 402 stored in memory card 202 and determine whether DCF objects are stored in each DCF directory 402. After that, the DCF stored in the memory card 202
Just move the object. By simply inserting the memory card storing the image data captured by the digital camera into the multimedia data storage device 200 according to the above procedure, the image data is automatically moved to the data storage device 203.

Although the case of the DCF file format has been described above, the above-described processing can be performed even when the directory structure does not have such a fixed format. In this case, a file recognized as multimedia data, for example, if it is a still image, JP
EG (Joint Photoguraphic Expert Group) files,
For moving image data, MPEG (Motion Picture Exp
A multimedia file such as an “ert group” file may be retrieved from the memory card 202.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the case where the image data recorded on the memory card 202 is moved to the data storage device 203 of the multimedia data storage device 200 has been described. In the second embodiment, a method will be described in which, when metadata (information about data) and image data are recorded on the memory card 202, they are joined and moved to the data storage device 203. The configuration of the data storage device 203 according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIGS. 1 and 2), and a description thereof will not be repeated. Also, the determination of whether image data exists in the memory card 202 is made according to the first embodiment (FIG. 5, FIG.
The description is omitted because it is the same as FIG. 6).

The operation of determining whether or not image data exists in the memory card 202 and whether or not there is metadata and storing the image data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a method of storing image data and metadata of a memory card on which metadata and image data are recorded in the data storage device 203.

First, the metadata “cardinfo.xml”
Is in the root directory (step S700). Here, if “cardinfo.xml” does not exist, the process proceeds to step S702, where the same image data accumulation processing as in the first embodiment is performed.
If “o.xml” exists, the process proceeds to step S701.
In step S701, a process of joining the image data and the metadata is performed. This processing will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the inside of multimedia data in which metadata is registered.

In FIG. 8, binary data 800 includes:
The header and the image data are stored, and the metadata “cardinfo.xml” 801 includes XML (Extensible Mark).
up Language) format metadata is described. This XML format is a language for transmitting information (structured documents) on the WWW. The metadata 801 is joined at the end of the image data 800, and the process proceeds to step S703. In step S703, after the process of joining the image data and the metadata is performed, the image data to which the metadata has been joined is subjected to the same image accumulation process as in the first embodiment. As described above, the storage of the image data 800 and the metadata 801 in the data storage device 203 when the memory card 202 in which the image data 800 and the metadata 801 are recorded is inserted into the multimedia data storage device 200 Perform processing.

The metadata description language of this embodiment includes:
Although the XML format was used, other data description languages, for example,
SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language),
A format such as HTMI (Hyper Text Markup Language) may be used. The description language in the SGML format is a general-purpose markup language for standardizing electronic documents. The markup can describe a document structure by writing designations such as fonts and character sizes in text. The description language in the HTMI format is a language for describing multimedia hyper screens, and is a function that associates several parts of text as a file and makes it possible to refer to it immediately, or uses its function. It is a text created by

Further, in this embodiment, the case where the metadata is joined at the end of the image data has been described. However, the metadata may be managed in the data storage device 203 using a multimedia database.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, still image data (binary data) has been described as multimedia data. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same applies to other moving image data, audio / music data, and the like. It goes without saying that processing can be performed.

According to the present invention, a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus stores the storage medium. It goes without saying that the present invention is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, an optical disk,
A magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like can be used.

Further, when the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS or the like running on the computer is actually executed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where some or all of the above processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is included.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0081]

As described above, according to the first to third and twentieth to twenty-second aspects of the present invention, only by inserting a removable storage medium on which multimedia data is recorded into a multimedia data storage device, By moving the data to the multimedia data storage device and automatically ejecting the storage medium from which the data has been lost by moving, the multimedia data can be stored without any detailed operation and without duplication of data. It can be efficiently stored in the storage device.

According to the invention of claims 3 and 21,
Since the data in the storage medium is automatically deleted after the data is moved to the data storage device, the data is not contained in the storage medium, and the next use can be dealt with immediately.

According to the invention of claims 2 and 22,
If the storage medium contains image data and metadata as multimedia data, the image data and metadata can be stored in association with each other.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a multimedia data storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the multimedia data storage device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for storing image data (binary data) in the multimedia data storage device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a directory in the DCF file format.

FIG. 5 is a first embodiment of a DCF object search flowchart in step S302 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a second embodiment of the DCF object search flowchart in step S302 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a method of storing image data and metadata of a memory card in which metadata and image data are recorded in a data storage device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the inside of multimedia data in which image data and metadata are registered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 reading unit 101 input unit 102 storage unit 103 display unit 104 CPU 105 ROM 106 RAM 200 multimedia data storage device 201 PC card slot 202 memory card (removable storage medium) 203 data storage device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Hanamoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kunihiro Yamamoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kia Non-corporation F term (reference) 5B082 EA01 EA09 GC04 GC05 5C052 AA17 DD02 GA02 GB06 GB07 GE08 5D110 AA02 AA08 AA12 AA27 AA29 BB02 DA01 DA11 DB03 DC16 DD16 DE01 DE04

Claims (50)

[Claims] 1. A multimedia data storage method for storing multimedia data in a data storage device, comprising: a multimedia data confirmation method for confirming that multimedia data exists in a removable storage medium connected to the data storage device. Reading multimedia data in the storage medium; reading multimedia data in the storage medium; copying the read multimedia data to a data storage device; and copying multimedia data to a data storage device. Multimedia data deleting step of deleting multimedia data from the storage medium. 2. When the multimedia data confirming step confirms that multimedia data exists, a metadata confirming step of confirming existence of metadata in the storage medium; and the metadata whose existence is confirmed. And a metadata joining step of joining the multimedia data read in the multimedia data reading step and the metadata read in the metadata reading step. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1. 3. The multimedia data storing method according to claim 1, wherein in the multimedia data deleting step, the storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted is automatically taken out from a data storage device. 4. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein said removable storage medium is a semiconductor memory. 5. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein said removable storage medium is a magnetic memory. 6. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the removable storage medium is a disk. 7. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the removable storage medium is a hard disk. 8. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein said multimedia data is still image data. 9. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia data is audio / music data. 10. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein said multimedia data is moving image data. 11. When the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data photographed by a digital camera, the multimedia data confirmation step is performed by a DCF defined by a camera file system standard.
4. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether an object file exists in the storage medium. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia data checking step searches all directories in the storage medium to determine whether all the supported multimedia data files exist. Multimedia data storage method. 13. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 2, wherein the metadata joining step joins the metadata after the multimedia data. 14. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 2, wherein the metadata joining step includes managing multimedia data and metadata using a multimedia database. 15. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 2, wherein the metadata is described in a data description language. 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the data description language is XML. 17. The multimedia data storage method according to claim 15, wherein the data description language is SGML. 18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the data description language is HTML. 19. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the multimedia data duplication step, if there is multimedia data having the same file name at the duplication destination, another name is automatically given. Multimedia data storage method. 20. A multimedia data storage device for storing multimedia data, wherein the multimedia data confirmation device confirms that the multimedia data is stored in a removable storage medium connected to the multimedia data storage device. Means, multimedia data reading means for reading multimedia data in the storage medium, multimedia data copying means for copying the read multimedia data to a data storage device, A multimedia data deleting device for deleting multimedia data from the storage medium. 21. When the multimedia data confirming means confirms that multimedia data exists, a metadata confirming means for confirming the existence of metadata in the storage medium, and reads the confirmed metadata. 21. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, further comprising: metadata reading means; and metadata joining means for joining the read multimedia data and metadata. 22. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein the multimedia data deletion means automatically extracts a storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted from a data storage device. 23. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein said removable storage medium is a semiconductor memory. 24. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein said removable storage medium is a magnetic memory. 25. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein the removable storage medium is a disk. 26. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the removable storage medium is a hard disk.
A multimedia data storage device according to claim 1. 27. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein said multimedia data is still image data. 28. The multimedia data includes audio data
23. Music data.
A multimedia data storage device according to claim 1. 29. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein the multimedia data is moving image data. 30. When the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data shot by a digital camera, the multimedia data checking means includes:
23. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 20, wherein it is determined whether a DCF object file defined by a camera file system standard exists in the storage medium. 31. The multimedia data confirming means according to claim 20, wherein all the multimedia data files supported are searched for in all directories in the storage medium. Multimedia data storage device. 32. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 21, wherein the metadata joining unit joins the metadata after the multimedia data. 33. The metadata joining means according to claim 21, wherein the multimedia data and the metadata are managed using a multimedia database.
3. The multimedia data storage device according to item 2. 34. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 21, wherein the metadata is described in a data description language. 35. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is XML. 36. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is SGML. 37. The multimedia data storage device according to claim 34, wherein the data description language is HTML. 38. The multimedia data duplicating means according to claim 20, wherein when the duplication destination has multimedia data with the same file name, another name is automatically given. Multimedia data storage device. 39. A multimedia data confirming step for confirming that multimedia data exists in a removable storage medium connected to the data storage device; and a multimedia data reading step for reading multimedia data in the storage medium. A multimedia data copying step of copying the read multimedia data to the data storage device; and a multimedia data deletion step of deleting the multimedia data copied to the data storage device from the storage medium. A storage medium for storing a computer-readable program that executes a multimedia data storage method. 40. When the multimedia data is confirmed in the step of confirming the multimedia data, a metadata confirmation step of confirming the existence of the metadata in the storage medium; and wherein the existence is confirmed. A metadata reading step of reading metadata; and a metadata joining step of joining the multimedia data read in the multimedia data reading step and the metadata read in the metadata reading step. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein 41. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein in the multimedia data deleting step, the storage medium from which the multimedia data has been deleted is automatically taken out from a data storage device. 42. When the multimedia data in the removable storage medium is still image data shot by a digital camera, the multimedia data confirmation step is performed by a DCF defined by a camera file system standard.
42. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein it is determined whether an object file exists in the storage medium. 43. The multimedia data confirming step according to claim 39, wherein all directories in the storage medium are searched for all supported multimedia data files. Storage media. 44. The storage medium according to claim 40, wherein the metadata joining step joins metadata after multimedia data. 45. The storage medium according to claim 40, wherein in the metadata joining step, multimedia data and metadata are managed using a multimedia database. 46. The method according to claim 39, wherein in the multimedia data duplication step, if there is multimedia data having the same file name at the copy destination, another name is automatically given. Storage media. 47. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein said removable storage medium is a semiconductor memory. 48. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein said removable storage medium is a magnetic memory. 49. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein said removable storage medium is a disk. 50. The storage medium according to claim 39, wherein said removable storage medium is a hard disk.